Sister Bullwinkel

About the Author

Lynette Silver is a military historian, the author of a number of books on Australian history, including The Battle of Vinegar Hill, Fabulous Furphies, The Heroes of Rimau, Krait - the Fishing Boat that went to War, Sandakan - A Conspiracy of Silence, The Bridge at Parit Sulong, Blood Brothers, Deadly Secrets- The Singapore Raids 1942-45, a novel In The Mouth of the Tiger, Billy- My life as a teenage POW, At War with my Father: Fred Howe - Prisoner of war, Angels of Mercy: far west & far east. In 2003 Lynette received a Defence Forces Commendation and Medal from Special Operations Command Australia, for her work during the 60th Anniversary of Operation Jaywick, the first civilian ever to receive this prestigious award. In January 2004 she was awarded an OAM in the Australia Day Honours for her services to veterans and their families for her work on Sandakan. The Sabah Government recognised her research work and her contribution to Sabah's war history with a Minister's Special Award, an honour rarely conferred on a foreigner, which was presented to her in November 2009 by Datuk Masidi Manjun, Minister for Tourism, Culture and the Environment. In the Australia Day Honours 2019, in recognition of her on-going historical research since 2003, her efforts to keep alive the memory of thousands of POWs and her philanthropic projects to make life better for the people of Sabah, the Australian government upgraded Lynette's OAM to a Member of the Order of Australia or AM, which takes precedence over both the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and Member of the British Empire (MBE), under the previous Imperial system. The years of honorary work by her husband Neil, who takes care of all administrative and logistical matters connected with the various projects initiated by the Silvers, was also recognised with the receipt of a Medal of the Order of Australia or OAM, which takes precedence over the British Empire Medal or BEM, under the Imperial honours system. In October 2022, Lynette was made Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE), an appointment made by Her Late Majesty The Queen, shortly before her death the previous month, in recognition of Lynette's services to British personnel who died in WW2 and their families. Apart from being reported in various radio and TV news items, Lynette's research work has been featured in scores of newspaper articles and journals, and she has been interviewed for the electronic media many times. She has also played a pivotal role as consultant on history programs and appeared on numerous current affairs' programs and in TV documentaries.